MORE SMART METER ARRESTS IN ROHNERT PARK WHERE WELLINGTON ENERGY DEPLOYMENT IS BLOCKED THIS MORNING

"This Time it's Grandmothers Who Don't Want Their Grandchildren Exposed to Constant RF from Smart Meters"

This morning in Rohnert Park, Wellington Energy, PG&E's subcontractor who installs Smart Meters all over the Bay Area, was blocked from leaving their deployment yard by about two dozen angry grandmothers, dads, and just ordinary citizens who are outraged by PG&E's stonewalling their legitimate health and safety concerns about Smart Meter RF.

The Rohnert Park police arrested Deborah Tavares of Sebastopol and Ilona Gallo of Novato around 8am this morning for blocking the trucks carrying the Smart Meters ready for forced deployment.

"People are becoming increasingly angry about their civil liberties being rolled over as the CPUC and PG&E continue to stonewall people's concerns and requests for a Moratorium. Not only is the CPUC clearly a neutered reglulatory agency, but it is actually enabling PG&E to treat it's customers with chronic disdain. They recently advertised that disdain by arrogantly declaring that they will 'ignore' Marin County's Smart Meter Ordinance." said Katharina Sandizell, one of the mothers arrested December 29th in West Marin.

"I am a grandmother of four grandchildren and the mother of two children and I am seeing the radiation effects already, headaches and tinnitus as well as children's behavioral problems. Of great concern is also the loss of privacy and civil liberties that this rollout signifies. I am a native born Californian and I have been married for 39 years and I have never been arrested. I became horrified by this whole Smart Meter roll-out a number of months ago in terms of the loss of freedom and the radiation that it entails." said Deborah Tavares of Sebastopol.

24 independent local governments have demanded a halt to the Smart Meter program. Marin County (unincorporated areas), Santa Cruz County (unincorporated areas), Watsonville, and Fairfax have all passed one year Emergency Ordinances banning the meters.

San Francisco- A coalition of health and environmental advocates opposing radiation-emitting 'smart' meters today questioned the recommendations of a report released yesterday, calling the installation of 10 million wireless meters throughout California "a giant experiment on the population." The California Council on Science and Technology (CCST) released a draft of their Smart Meter report yesterday- a response to Assemblymember Jared Huffman?s (D-San Rafael) request and question, "Are the FCC Safety Standards adequate to protect people from harm?"

The CCST report answers that the FCC safety standards are adequate for thermal impacts yet non-thermal impacts from radiation emitting devices like Smart Meters is still unknown. Despite this uncertainty, the report inexplicably gives the green light for continued installation.

Cindy Sage of Sage Associates, a professional environmental consultant who last week released a study showing that 'smart' meters likely exceed already high FCC limits on human exposure to microwaves, said "Installing millions of RF transmitters in peoples' homes when we already have substantial scientific evidence about the risks of chronic, low-level RF is a risk not worth taking. Especially without any discussion, or disclosure to the public about trade-offs made without their knowledge or
consent."

The CCST study found that radiation from a 'Smart' Meter is forty times as high as a wireless wifi router, contradicting PG&E?s previous claim that the meters emit a minute fraction of the radiation of common household devices.

"Comparing wireless meters to other wireless devices that are voluntary, and which many people choose not to use is not a fair comparison to government-mandated meters that expose people in their homes 24 hours a day." Sage says.

Stop Smart Meters!, the EMF Safety Network, and other groups opposing 'smart' meters continue to receive reports from hundreds of people experiencing health impacts after the wireless meters are installed, including sleep problems, headaches, tinnitus and nausea. The California Public Utilities Commission has received over 2000 complaints of health impacts. The CCST report failed to interview anyone reporting health symptoms, and neglected to cite peer-reviewed findings of non-thermal biological damage from low level RF emissions.

"The costs for having guessed wrong is likely to have enormous economic and public health consequences for Californians for decades to come," Sage concludes.

If you have had a reaction to smart meters
(or if you wish to comment), this committee should know about it. Deadline is January 31st for comments. Please forward to others.

Magda Havas

Dear Dr. Havas, As promised I want to let you know that we just posted on our website the CCST report on Health Impacts of Radio Frequency from Smart Meters. The report was requested by California State Assembly Members Huffman and Monning. You'll find a copy of their press release also posted there. All is posted at http://www.ccst.us . We will be taking public comment via that site throughout January.

*CCST is a nonpartisan, impartial, not-for-profit 501(c)(3) corporation established via Assembly Concurrent Resolution (ACR 162) in 1988 by a unanimous vote of the California Legislature. It is designed to offer expert advice to the state government and to recommend solutions to science and technology-related policy issues.